Hearts of Kyber
by Resonant Hymn
Summary: Synopsis: A very AU reimagination of Rogue One, set in a reimagined Star Wars verse, with story elements chosen and mixed in from both the Legends and the New Canon.


**Hearts of Kyber**

A Star Wars fanfic

_NOTE: (READ FIRST!)_

_This story is a reimagination of Rogue One set in an AU Star Wars galaxy where the fall of the Republic and the Jedi took place differently. _

_The most blatant divergence I have taken from canon is that in this verse the Jedi were not a monastic order of knights, but were rather a community of force-sensitives who shared a symbiotic relationship with the Republic. Think of them like the Shinobi from Naruto. There was no restriction on them on forming emotional attachments and having a family. And Jedi Knights like Obi Wan Kenobi comprised only a minority of the greater Jedi populace._

_I have thus taken a lot of liberties in order to write this story. Some elements I have taken from the New Canon. Some elements I have taken from Legends. And some more I have made up based on the initial impressions I got from watching the Original Trilogy many years ago._

_So be ready for non-canon stuff if you choose to go forward with the read. This story might not be to your preference and I respect that, but that does not mean that one has to be rude or post flames. So be polite._

_Besides the above, constructive feedback that helps me locate flaws in the writing or little factual errors beyond the obvious canon divergence are always welcome. I might be fond of Star Wars, but I'm not so knowledgeable that I know the exact model name of Han Solo's blaster._

_So, all said, let us begin. _

_CREDITS: _

_This fanfiction story would not be possible without:_

_The Star Wars movies by George Lucas, which I obviously have no rights to whatsoever._

_The wonderful trove of fan-compiled information that is Wookiepedia_

_Google Docs_

**Chapter 1: A Black Project**

*1*

The REPUBLIC is DEAD.

For nineteen years the EMPIRE reigns SUPREME.

The systemised slavery and pillage of worlds beyond the Core has starved billions to death. And even the beginnings of protest are crushed with lethal and overwhelming force.

A REBELLION is in the MAKING.

The clock is ticking.

And a WAR than decides the FATE of the GALAXY shall be fought once more...

*2*

The Corellian corvette had chosen to land at a public spaceport rather than the skypads reserved for diplomatic starships. It stood parked alongside freighters and mass carry barges that would eventually fill with people, then depart for some of the countless worlds that comprised the Galactic Empire. None of the occasional technicians present could have known that the seemingly ordinary man who disembarked alone from a speeder and walked down the rows of parked ships was a senator. The boarding ramp stood lowered and the couple of guards flanking the sides let him pass.

Senator Bail Organa from Alderaan knew that his days as a politician were numbered. The Senate was a carryover from the era of the dead Republic, but it was by now a vestigial organ of the administration, merely a means to placate the old heads who'd voted the Emperor to absolute power. And he'd been one of them.

How necessary it seemed back then, he mused as he stepped off the airlock. The Republic was in pieces. Split in two as a result of conflict between the Core and Rim Worlds. And further torn apart as a result of the rampages by a fractured and fallen Jedi Order.

The Emperor was granted absolute power with unanimous vote. And similarly so was Order 66.

"_And thus dies liberty. In thundering applause."_

The words of Queen Amidala from long ago echoed in his mind. The aged woman who'd been his informal mentor had her back stooped in defeat.

"You could still have made your stand." Bail had pointed out. Theirs was a conspiracy: that of his, Amidala, Mothma and a few others. And the Queen of Naboo had always been an outspoken critic of the path the Republic had been taking since war broke out.

"As could have you." Her voice was bitter. "_But we represent our people. Their safety is our charge."_

It was too late now, Organa knew that as well. The Emperor was charismatic whenever he arrived to listen to the Senate. But he was in truth a predator. And the rest of the galaxy were his prey. The best Bail could do was keep away from the eyes of that monster.

For as long as he could. He was part of a conspiracy after all. And so was his daughter, who'd returned from yet another of her aid missions. Leia had crossed over into adolescence barely a year ago. But already she was running across the galaxy with this little ship of hers. Helping the deprived wherever she could, and tending to the saplings of a fledgling rebellion. There was intel they both needed to share.

The datapad showed a classified document. A summarised balance sheet of credits allocated by the Empire to both military and civilian initiatives. Leia couldn't help but note how over fifty percent of the budget was given over to the military, and a further forty percent to the Core Worlds. Only less than ten percent was allocated to the much more numerous Rim Worlds. And Leia already knew from her line of work that even this trickle of money would not make it to the people there. It would end up in the pockets of the local governors.

But this fact was not what her father wanted to draw her attention to. Leia looked closer at the numbers. Then pulled up the calculator function on the datapad and did a summation. Her brows furrowed. She redid the calculation and checked again. Then again. Her lips drew into a frown. There was no mistaking it. The numbers did not add up. There was a deficit that did not show in the summary, but it did in fact show when one added up the numbers in the individual entries. The auditor would never have missed an error such as this. Not unless…

"This is on purpose." She spoke up.

Bail gave a nod in agreement. "A sizable portion of the Empire's annual budget is not accounted for the past fifteen years. And this hole has only been growing over the years. I traced the trail of credits through several intermediaries and it all leads to a single person: Orson Krennic."

"The researcher?" She asked. Leia had come across the man's profile on the Rebellion's hit list. Number one was the Emperor himself. At number two stood the Grand Moff: a bureaucrat who could sentence millions to death with a single signature. Krennic was a lot further down the list as the director of weapons research, and he stood just a couple ranks beneath the industrialist Raith Sienar.

Bail agreed with a nod. "Brilliant man. And just as ruthless. He's heading an Imperial project that's supposed to provide sustainable energy for worlds that have still not been able to rebuild."

Leia rolled her eyes. "A weapons researcher heading a project that's supposed to benefit civilians?" She shook her head. "Even if I were to deliberately overlook that, the principle of the project itself goes against the administration's unofficial stance. Keep the vassals poor and weak. Have them believe that poverty is their birthright. What has Krennic got to show for so much money?"

"A high capacity power accumulator designed to store energy with greater efficiency." Her father's voice was still level, as expected of a politician. But it was laced with subtle sarcasm. "That was ten years ago, after which progress on the project dropped off the reports. But the funding appears to have kept on growing through indirect channels."

Bail paused, then looked with meaning at his daughter. "This reeks of a black project. But looking at the amount of funds that's devoted to it, this is also big. And dangerously so."

"Are there any hard locations that we can pry into?" Leia enquired.

"Yes. Krennic had an energy conversion lab on Eadu, tasked with research into hypermatter chain reactions. It's his only research base that's still active. I was able to get the list of employees and one name caught my attention."

Leia checked the datapad and selected the dossier provided as well. "Galen Erso?" She enquired. "What's so special about him?"

"He did a fair bit of research on kyber crystals during the clone wars." Bail elaborated. Glancing at Leia's bemused expression, he added: "Kyber crystals were used by Jedi as the heart of their lightsabers. It served as the focal point of energy, and as the root of the sword's cutting blade."

Leia had her brows raised in surprise. But she did not pursue the topic further. What little she knew of the Jedi she'd learned from her parents, and the secret library of banned texts that they maintained. This little fact about kyber crystals she now kept tagged away within a corner of her mind, to be looked up later within the safety of home at Alderaan. After all, knowledge of Jedi secrets was dangerous in this day and age.

"So we need to have the Alliance look into Erso, and dig up any information we can find on him." She affirmed, and read through the dossier further. "It appears he was not on Krennic's payroll for a couple years. Why is it so?"

Bail shrugged. "That you must find out for yourself. His wife is dead from undisclosed causes. And his daughter is listed as missing. Both of us know that not all serve the Empire willingly."

"Alright. I will talk this over with the Chancellor."

The matters of business finished, the conversation shifted to family. Leia had paid a visit to Alderaan a couple months prior, meeting her mother who governed the planet. Bail couldn't help but grin when she spoke of her three tireful aunts with disdainful affection. They were still trying to groom the girl into a noble lady, whereas she kept running away into warzones and getting into arguments with governors. Unspoken was the inherent danger that she had chosen to get herself tangled into, much like her father.

And Bail was very worried about that. About how long he would be able to keep her safe.

"_Lelila_, I have a request to make."

Hearing her silence he continued. "This is the last time you shall be anywhere near Coruscant."

Leia drew her face into a frown.

"No, hear me out." Bail insisted. "I see and hear much within the Court. And it's clear to me that the Emperor will not tolerate the Senate any longer, with the Moffs now being his administrators of choice."

"What about your colleagues? What's on their mind?"

"A few of them might stand their ground." Her father admitted. "But it will be to naught. In theory if we were to impeach the Emperor, we would need a very clear majority in votes to even begin the proceedings. That itself is no more than a fantasy. Because you see, most of us old timers who would have agreed to do so have either retired or been retired. And their successors are all yaysayers. The Emperor made sure of this."

"Are you telling me that the Senate will be dissolved?"

"Yes. And it will be executed with no more gravity than an afterthought. The Republic is long dead. So why not as well dispose of the corpse?"

"But the Senators are mere representatives." Leia protested. "Even if they don't speak out then what about the people they represent? It's the support he gets from the Core Worlds that keeps the Empire together."

Bail's voice was grave. "That's what worries me, my girl. It appears that the Emperor is willing to anger the Core Worlds. Now why should that be?"

*3*

Orson Krennic, the Director of Imperial Weapons Research, stood behind the pilot as his shuttle dropped out of the luminous vortices of hyperspace, and back into the cold, dark heart of realspace. The raw coordinates of his destination were known only to a select few apart from him. And even the pilot did nothing more than enter a set of preset commands into the ship's computer and the navigation systems did the rest.

The wedge-shaped outline of a star destroyer was faintly visible as they were hailed and access codes were exchanged. Krennic knew that the turbolasers of the warship were kept always trained at every newcomer in the construction site, and if by fluke there was even the slightest ambiguity in the personalised codes he provided, he would be blasted to dust along with his ship. If the truth of the fact bothered him, Krennic did not let that show.

"Codes are valid and you are cleared to dock. Welcome back, Sir."

The destination of his ship began to come into view as the shuttle flew past the star destroyer. As first it was visible only as a faint rim of light. But as the ship drew closer the rim expanded and began to take the shape of a moon.

But it was no moon.

The star of the system rose from beyond the terminator in a brilliant explosion of light, and the not-moon gradually came into profile. Krennic knew that its surface was an industrial maze of quadanium lattices and armoured towers, criss-crossed by trenches further flanked by turbolaser batteries. But from the distance none of that was visible. The details shrunk and merged into a smooth grey-white surface. And it left him looking at the sterile visage of a moon-sized spherical space station.

But again, it was no moon.

It was the most terrifying weapon of mass destruction that Galactic civilization had ever built. A mobile fortress among the stars that could travel to any sector in the galaxy along with its armada of escort warships. But the focus of its terror was the gargantuan pit on the not-moon's surface: a yet-incomplete site of construction scaffolding and frenzied activity. It would serve as the housing bay of the station's ultimate weapon: a superlaser of unthinkable destructive power. Designed to be used not on enemy ships, but on the unarmed populace of enemy worlds.

The station was yet to have a formal name. It was still classified as an obscure resource mining facility if one looked too deep into the Empire's paperwork. But the Emperor had already decided on a name. And Grand Moff Tarkin had relayed the same to him in person.

A harbinger of death and destruction, the station would be named:

The Death Star.


End file.
